The Whole Music Experience

Yamandu Costa and Hamilton de Holanda Live! Adventure Music I reviewed Brazilian mandolin (10-string) Hamilton de Holanda’s jazz ensemble in 2010 and now I see he has returned, this time in a duet with guitarist (7-string), Yamandu Costa with Live!   Here we have a live performance in front of an appreciative audience.   The songs performed by this duo caused me to applaud as I felt exhilarated listening to these two brilliant musicians wed their virtuoso talents.   I’ve been under much stress lately with trying to find a new home in Bellingham, staying in temporary housing in the interim.   I wasn’t planning on reviewing any CDs until after I settled into a new home, but this recording came to me as a nice surprise in the mail.   The music on the recording has restored my vitality and helped me to keep a positive outlook.   Brazilian music does that in general, but this live recording emits a powerful uplifting energy which can only bo...

Vieux Farka Toure The Secret Six Degrees Records This gem of a Malian blues CD has been sitting in my CD basket for a week.   It’s not that I don’t appreciate hearing the blues, but that up until now the rain and trying to keep my spirits up, kept me away from listening to a blues recording.   But we’ve had a week of sunny days so I popped Vieux Farka Toure’s The Secret into my player.   I realize that it’s a cliché to call it snaky desert blues, except that’s exactly what you get with this recording.     Tough, Malian blues riffs and what other journalists call chunky.   You’ll recognize the blues chord progressions, but if you’ve not heard the Malian blues yet, the vocals will sound more Arabic than like American blues, plus they're sung in French and Malian dialects.   And on Gido , featuring John Scofield, sounds Arabic-Andalusian.   The album features several guitarists and any guitarist worth his or her salt will gravitate t...

Joel Frederiksen Ensemble Phoenix Munich Rose of Sharon (100 Years of American Music 1770-1870) Harmonia Mundi I often wonder what early American music would sound like, especially since I’ve done my share of listening to early European music.   I expected the fife and rat-a-tat snare drum which you hear on Joel Frederiksen’s The Rose of Sharon .   And of course you would expect renaissance polyphony and baroque influences to play a role which you can hear in the "Father of American Choral Music" section.   The musicians provided extensive liner notes which come in handy and they divided the selections into 6 sections including, "The Battle for Freedom" (which feature religious text) but are related to the American Revolutionary War, "The Father of American Choral Music", William Billings, "Shape Notes and Singing Schools," "Shaker Spirituals", "Music from the Civil War" and "Revival Meetings and Spiritu...

Maeve Gilchrist Song of Delight Adventure Music Harpist-vocalist-composer Maeve Gilchrist brings diverse musical experiences and training to Song of Delight .   Her Scottish background coupled with her studies at the Berkeley School of Music (Boston) act as an intriguing combination. But this of course proves challenging for music reviewers in search of musical references. Certainly I can hear shades of Joni Mitchell who blended the American folk tradition with jazz. I can also hear shades of Catalan harpist-vocalist Arianna Savall.   Gilchrist possesses a sharp gift for melody and coupled with her sensitive and innovative harp playing.   Here Aidan O’Donnell’s string bass pairs up with the high and medium tones of the Celtic harp.   Guest musicians include Mike Block on cello, Darol Anger (also produced the recording), on violin, Joe Walsh on mandolin and Hannah Read on violin which together create a jazz chamber sound. Falling somewhere betwee...

Andrè Vasconcellos 2 Adventure Music Even though the press notes for Brazilian bassist-composer Andrè Vasconcellos’ US debut 2 mentions hip-hop and chill influences, the album sounds like lyrical American and Brazilian jazz to my ears.   I’m thankful that I didn’t hear hip-hop influences since that’s not my cup of tea.   I did hear strains of John Coltrane, especially the saxophonist’s Arab phase on the second track, Rome with its snaky chromatic piano. But then it’s not unusual to hear Coltrane influences on jazz albums, especially if saxophone takes the lead, which it does on this album. I found Balance of Relations too noisy for my taste, but I enjoyed the romantic The Old City Ballad. Bullfight (odd title for this track) offers a respite from the world too with David Feldman’s piano and Joshua Lopez’s tenor sax passing a motif back and forth.   On Puerto Madero the musicians delve into a bossa nova that sounds warm and enjoyable with Renato F...

Kevin Yazzie Love (Songs of the Native American Church) Canyon Records Porcupine Singers Alowanpi-Songs of Honoring Lakota Classics: Past and Present, Vol. 1 Canyon Records I’ve reviewed Dinè songwriter Kevin Yazzie’s CDs in the past so I’m going to give a brief review of his latest, Love (Songs of the Native American Church ).    Similar to another Dinè traditional songwriter Louis Gonnie, Yazzie’s vocals possess a strong spiritual resonance, especially when he sings in the lower register.   He offers 7 sets of songs or sung prayers to life, his family, his children, and to love. Unlike some peyote song recordings, the water drum and shaker don't sound jarring here, but still creates a sacred atmosphere in which the singer delivers his harmonized vocals.   I’m listening to the first song set as I type this review and I feel alert instead of spaced out.   I find this recording accessible and someone who has never listened...

Le Trio Joubran As Far (Asfar) World Village In 2008 I interviewed Wissam Joubran for an arts and entertainment publication in Washington State and I felt deeply moved by his story.   I was scheduled to attend a Le Trio Joubran concert, but in the end I missed the concert.   This was a real shame because the Palestinian oud-playing brothers’ performance on their studio and live recordings prove nothing short of mesmerizing, even flawless.   The brothers don’t just deliver seamless performances (imagine three ouds in sync or playing counter melodies), they perform with their hearts dangling on their sleeves and in a live DVD that I watched, trails of tears on their faces.   Granted, even though the musicians are blessed with an incredible musical gift and hail from a lineage of oud players, Palestinian life is rife with tragedies. So the musicians have a huge palette in which to draw from when composing and performing music.   At times the music ...

Amjad Ali Khan Scottish Chamber Orchestra with David Murphy Samaagam World Village I’ve heard diverse European classical fusions with classical music of other cultures.   But the bridge between traditional Indian classical and European classical music provides a blissful experience that travels beyond words.   When you consider that European music is currently based on a well-tempered scale with basically 7 notes (an octave repeats a note) and Indian music possesses 12 note scales with microtones, it seems like a miracle that these 2 languages can actually converse musically.   Traditional Indian instruments were created around the 12 note scale and the European classical instruments were created for the rigors of European classical music.   But that didn’t stop Indian master sarod player Amjad Ali Khan from teaming up with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra laboratory from exploring Indian ragas and employing 2 musical systems to achieve this goal. ...

Emmanuelle Bertrand Le violoncelle parle Harmonia Mundi Celebrated French cellist Emmanuelle Bertrand tackles challenging works by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Catalan Gaspar Cassadò (1897-1966), her partner, pianist-composer Pascal Amoyel (1971), and Hungarian Zoltàn Kodály on her ambitious Le Violoncelle parle .   While you can view the French cellist contorting her body and face performing this masterwork on the DVD portion of the album, she also contorts the concept of the language of music. On both the CD and DVD, she emphasizes the language of the cello itself.   The back of the CD cover reads, “When music takes over the idioms characteristics of each culture, pushing back the limits of the instrumental technique, reshaping, and dismantling the rules to better express a specific identity…” The cultural identities the cello expresses here range from the hope and despair of Holocaust musician survivors (how music uplifted them), Hungarian and Russian folks...

Aaron White & Anthony Wakeman Handprints of Our People Canyon Records Neither Dinè-Ute guitarist-flutist Aaron White or Lakota flutist Anthony Wakeman are new to my ears. I’ve heard at least two incarnations of White’s duos and heard Wakeman’s solo and collaborative recordings. So listening to White’s and Wakeman’s Handprint of Our People comes as a lovely respite. White’s bluesy guitar (listen to the stunner Dunes of Time ) coupled with Wakeman’s ethereal flute connects the earth and the sky. Needless to say I find the duo’s warm acoustic album deeply relaxing. Certainly the music here would benefit massage and energy healing clients who prefer new age and indigenous music with an edge. Wakeman’s flute provides more washes than melodic hooks which contributes to the relaxing vibe. And the deep tones of White’s guitar relieve tension. On End of My Trail , White plays lilting arpeggios which Wakeman’s dragonfly-like flute dances around. On Return of the Twins Wak...

Cantus That Eternal Day Independent release I’m not a religious person, but I enjoy some choral music especially when it’s sung a cappella as it is on Cantus That Eternal Day. The Twin Cities (Minnesota) nine voice men’s choir has already been lauded with praise by Fanfare and for good reason. The men sing perfectly calibrated harmonies delivered with contagious enthusiasm—think African American gospel (listen to the driving Run On ),  and Shaker songs. Think Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring rendition of  Simple Gifts which appears also appears on this disk. Listening to this collection of songs ranging from African American spirituals, to Sacred Harp Hymns, and Shaker tunes, you can hear the love and research that went into this project. From American colonial composers to Goin’ Home by Antonìn Dvořàk and Bobby McFerrin’s The 23rd Psalm , Cantus pulls many colorful threads together into a musical quilt. The album can be viewed as a music history document, a co...

Contradanza Tentenelaire Galileo Music Hailing from Seville (Andalusia, Spain), the folkloric quintet Contradanza performs a mix of flamenco (no flamenco on Tentenelaire ), renaissance dances, Arabic music and jazz. In some respects Contradanza shares common musical themes and styles with Eliseo Parra and Aulaga Folk, other Spanish folkloric groups that mix traditions. But please don’t ask me to elaborate since I know little about this group and can find scant information in English except a stub on Wikipedia and a review of a previous recording. The music on Tentenelaire  exudes warmth and exoticism. Arab baglama, accordion, flutes (Celtic and Arabic), fiddle, bass, guitar, African drums, accordion, mandolin provide a backdrop for Ricardo de Castro’s laidback vocals. While the songs flow together seamlessly and at a similar tempo, careful listens to the recording reveal a Spanish Celtic tinge on Cigüeña , heard mainly in the misty flutes and fiddle. The song Vo...

In-Tune with Neptune (The Outer Planet Returns Home to Pisces on April 4) Besides researching and writing about music, I practice astrology as a hobby. I tend to favor watching the trends caused by the outer planets, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus because these planets stay many years in a sign. Uranus stays around 7 years, Pluto and Neptune around 12-14 years slowly transiting a sign. In fact, since the discovery of Neptune during the Victorian Age (September 23, 1846) the planet has only made one round of the zodiac, starting and ending in Aquarius. On April 4, Neptune transited into its home sign, Pisces. I find this significant because I work in a field that is governed by Neptune and I also have this large and beautiful planet smack on my MC/10th house of my natal chart (career). So it’s no accident that I discovered the healing power of music since Neptune basically rules my chart. Incidentally, I think its fate that I write this article because Neptune was discovered whe...

According to Scott Wurtz B.A., LMP, PBP and drummer, drumming boost immune systems, helps with depression and reduces stress levels.  This article appears in the April 2011 issue of New Spirit Journal which you can view at http://www.newspiritjournal.com This concise article includes well-documented research and inspires us to join drum circles.  I've always found dancing and listening to poly rhythms healthy, but playing the drum with others has some fabulous benefits, plus it's fun.

Trio Mediaeval A Worcester Ladymass ECM New Series The first time I listened to a Trio Medieval recording ( Stella Maris ), I ended up with a strange dog in my apartment. As soon as I slipped the disk and turned up the volume, I heard a crashing sound on my front door. When I opened the door, a large Alaskan dog entered my small apartment. Fortunately, the dog seemed mesmerized by the polyphonic vocals coming out of the speakers and stayed calm until its human companion showed up to retrieve him. The reason why I’m sharing this dog and music tale is because I too found Trio Mediaeval interpretation of sacred medieval chants mesmerizing. The three Nordic women voices (Ana Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Torrun Østrem Ossum), fit together so well, that we can only call the overall effect alchemical. Returning from a four year hiatus (the trio’s last release was Folk Songs on ECM New Series in 2007) this time around the trio interprets and performs the Ladymass of Worces...

Jerusalem Quartet Mozart String Quartets K. 157, 458 & 589 Harmonia Mundi Who doesn’t love a composer who can turn 4 stringed instruments into an orchestra? The virtuoso composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart even on one his earliest quartets, K. 157 performed so lovingly by the Jerusalem Quartet, composed this full-bodied work. Although this early quartet is described as sad in the liner notes, the first and third movements sound lively to me. The slower second movement Andante , portrays aching sadness, and definitely sobs of grief. Just listen to the lamenting cello below the surface of the weeping violins and viola. And yet, this movement in all of its woeful melancholy recalls later work by French composer Erik Satie. In fact, I listened to this movement before watching a movie with Satie’s music in the soundtrack, which caused me to draw comparisons. String Quartet No. 17 in B flat, K. 458 composed much later in Mozart’s short life, recalls the work of JS Bach. If th...

Music Consciousness in the Work and Market Place Seattle, photo by Patricia Herlevi So many times I walk into a business or shop and leave immediately because I don’t enjoy the music playing in the store. In some cases, I’ve heard NPR or some other news source blasting from a radio. In either case, those shops lost my business because I felt unwelcomed by the audio choices. I’ve been blasted with heavy metal at an Aveda beauty school (Seattle), I’ve had to listen to 70s and 80s pop music getting my hair cut at other beauty schools and also strangely enough waiting for a counseling appointment and ditto for a naturopath clinic. Nostalgia is a dangerous thing and drum machines pattering away do not provide a healing environment. Some lyrics might trigger painful memories. This is why massage therapists and other energy healers provide either silence or soothing tension-free music to their patients. All of the above scenarios portray unconscious music/audio choices that might...